Shoe tree



I March 15, 1966 J D 3,239,860

SHOE TREE Filed NOV. 29, 1965 25 FIG. 5

INVENTOR Joseph A. IREDALE A TTORNE YS United States Patent 3,239,860 SHOE TREE Joseph A. llredale, 212 Tallwood Place, Rosemere, Quebec, Canada Filed Nov. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 326,695 9 Claims. (Cl. 12-1153) This invention relates to shoe trees for insertion into shoes when not in use to retain the shoes in proper shape and more particularly relates to an improved shoe tree which is adjustable to fit shoes in a plurality of length and width sizes.

Adjustable she trees now in use obtain this adjustability by having the forepart of the shoe tree, which is the part inserted into the mid-portion and toe of the shoe, split longitudinally and vertically into two halves to comprise two separate side portions.

Springs or expanding mechanisms are positioned between the two side portions to urge the portions outwardly and thus accommodate various widths of shoes.

The assembly time and material cost of the springs and expanding mechanisms contributes substantially to the final cost of the completed shoe tree. Furthermore, the majority of shoe trees at present in use are made of wood, requiring that the forepart profiles be machined on copy lathes and entailing lengthy finishing operations such as sanding, staining and polishing.

The present invention overcomes the disadvantages inherent in the shoe trees at present in use by providing a shoe tree in which the forepart is manufactured in one piece and has a slot extending vertically and longitudinally from the rear face of the forepart. This leaves the front portion of the forepart intact to form a connection between the two side portions formed by the slot. Thus the two side portions will be flexible inwardly and will return to their original positions when released, the flexibility depending upon the characteristics of the material used and upon the amount of material remaining between the end of the slot and the front of the forepart.

This flexibility will thus enable the foreparts of the shoe trees to adapt to fit a range of shoe widths.

A conventional adjustable heel part is pivotally mounted within the slot to obtain the required lengthwise adjustments of the shoe tree.

The forepart is preferably manufactured from a plastic material which will permit manufacture by injection moulding or like process. This provides a completely finished article in a single operation and thus eliminates all expensive and time consuming copy lathe machining and subsequent finishing operations.

The plastic material used would be moulded in expanded form to provide convenient lightness of the product and consequent material savings.

An example of a suitable plastic material which could be used is expanded high density polyethylene.

It will of course be obvious that numerous other plastics could equally well be used in addition to numerous metals, but these are not detailed herein as it is felt that the choice and use of these materials would present no problems to anyone versed in this art.

It will also be obvious that the forepart could be made from a block of plastic or metal, then copy lathe machined to the required shape and still retain the simplicity and other advantages of the one piece forepart according to this invention.

It is, therefore, the main object of this invention to provide a shoe tree, of adjustable length and width, which is of simplified and more economical construction than shoe trees at present in use.

Another object is to provide a shoe tree in which the forepart is manufactured in one piece and in which a 3,239,860 Patented Mar. 15, 1966 slot is positioned vertically and lengthwise from one end of the forepart to enable the characteristics of the fore part material to provide width flexibility.

A further object is to provide a shoe tree which is moulded in plastic, said plastic being expanded to facilitate product lightness and material savings.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent by reference to the following detailed specification and figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a shoe tree according to this invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the shoe tree shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 in FIG. 1 and shows the arrangement for pivotally mounting the adjustable heel part in the forepart slot.

FIG. 4 is a section, similar to a section taken on the line 44 in FIG. 1, but showing air circulation slots in the underside of the forepart, according to the alternative execution of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 in FIG. 1 and shows details of the conventional adjustable heel part.

With reference now to the figures, the shoe tree comprises a forepart 11, a heel part 12 and an expanding sleeve 13. Expanding sleeve 13 is pivotally mounted at one end in slot 14, in forepart 11, by means of pivot pin 15. Pivot pin 15 is shown in these figures as comprising a parallel shank portion 16 having a screw thread portion 17 and a screw head portion 18. Screw thread portion 17 is securely screwed into one side of forepart 11 with bore 19, in the other side of forepart 11, providing the required clearance around screw head 18 to permit forepart flexibility. It will of course be obvious that many other suitable types of pivot pin could equally well be used, the pivot pin 15 shown herein being a preferred choice.

The other end of expanding sleeve 13 is slidably positioned in bore 21 in heel part 12, and is retained in bore 20 by pin 21 which passes through slot 22 in expanding sleeve 13. Compression spring 23 is positioned in bore 20 and abuts the end of expanding sleeve 13 to urge said sleeve outwardly. Thus before insertion into a shoe, heel part 12 is pushed towards forepart 11 against the pressure of spring 23 and released when inserted, whereupon spring 23 will urge heel part 12 outwardly into the shoe heel and maintain the shoe in proper shape.

In FIG. 1 slot 14 is shown as having a V-shaped configuration, the point of the V terminating in an enlarged bore portion 24. Bore portion 24 provides desirable material flow lines around the tip of the V and thus avoids any areas having unnecessarily high material stresses therein.

FIG. 4 shows a section through forepart 11, which is similar to a section taken on line 4-4 in FIG. 1, but includes air circulation slots 25 according to the alternative execution of this invention. Slots 25 extend substantially along the length of forepart 11 and permit air movement within the shoes to remove moisture from shoe inner soles, and generally to provide ventilation within the shoes.

Foreparts 11 are moulded to suit right-foot and leftfoot shoes, the illustration in FIG. 1 showing a shoe tree suitable for a right-foot shoe.

What I claim is:

1. A shoe tree including a single one-piece constructed forepart shaped for insertion into the forward part of a shoe, said forepart having a slot formed in said forepart and extending vertically and longitudinally from the rear face of said forepart to a point approaching the toe portion of said forepart, a pivot pin means mounted in said forepart and extending horizontally within said slot and having a heel part pivotally mounted thereon, said slot providing two side members joined together adjacent the toe portion and separated at the rear face of the said forepart enabling said side members to be pressed inwardly and to return to their original positions when said inward pressure is removed.

2. A shoe tree as set forth in claim 1 in which said slot tapers in width from a relatively wide opening at said rear face to a relatively narrow width at the slot closed end.

3. A shoe tree as set forth in claim 1 in which said slot is substantially V-shaped having a relatively wide opening at said rear face and having a bore portion extending vertically through said forepart, the tip of said V-shaped slot terminating in said bore portion.

4. A shoe tree as set forth in claim 1 in which said pivot pin means is firmly secured to one of said side members, the other of said side members moving relative to said pivot pin means when said side members are pressed inwardly.

5. A shoe tree as set forth in claim 1 in which said single constructed piece forepart is formed of a plastic material having sufficient resiliency to enable the side members formed by said slot means to be pressed inwardly and to return to their original positions when said inward pressure is removed.

6. A shoe tree as set forth in claim 1 in which said single constructed piece forepart is formed of expanded high density polyethylene.

7. A shoe tree including a single one-piece constructed forepart shaped for insertion into the forward part of a shoe, said forepart having slot means formed in said forepart and extending vertically and longitudinally from the rear face of said forepart to a point approaching the toe portion of said forepart, said slot means enabling the side members of said forepart formed by said slot means to be pressed inwardly and to return to their original positions when said inward pressure is released, said forepart having additional slot means formed in the forepart and extending longitudinally and upwardly from the lower surface of said forepart to a point adjacent the upper surface thereof.

8. A shoe tree including a single one-piece constructed forepart shaped for insertion into the forward part of a shoe, said forepart having a V-shaped slot formed in said forepart and extending vertically and longitudinally from the rear face of said forepart to a point approaching the toe portion thereof and providing two side portions jointed at a point adjacent the said toe, said V-shaped slot having a relatively wide opening at said rear face and terminating in a bore portion extending vertically through said forepart, and an adjustable heel part pivotally mounted on a pivot pin extending horizontally within said slot, said pivot pin being firmly secured to one of the side members formed by said slot and the other side member moving relative to said pivot pin when said side members are pressed inwardly to reduce the width of said forepart, the resiliency of the forepart material being such that said side members will return to their original positions when said inward pressure is released.

9. A shoe tree as set forth in claim 8 in which said adjustable heel part includes a heel member and an expanding sleeve member, one end of said expanding sleeve member being slidably mounted within said heel member and the other end being pivotally mounted within said slot by said pivot pin, and including spring means positioned within said heel member to urge said expanding sleeve member outwardly.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 143,922 2/1946 Lesavoy 12-115.6 X 1,830,016 11/1931 Clausing 12115.8 2,255,471 9/1941 Mutch 12115.8 2,787,013 4/1957 Moses 12115.8

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,035,926 9/1953 France.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SHOE TREE INCLUDING A SINGLE ONE-PIECE CONSTRUCTED FOREPART SHAPED FOR INSERTION INTO THE FORWARD PART OF A SHOE, SAID FOREPART HAVING A SLOT FORMED IN SAID FOREPART AND EXTENDING VERTICALLY AND LONGITUDINALLY FROM THE REAR FACE OF SAID FOREPART TO A POINT APPROACHING THE TOE PORTION OF SAID FOREPART, A PIVOT PIN MEANS MOUNTED IN SAID FOREPART AND EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY WITHIN SAID SLOT AND HAVING A HEEL PART PIVOTALLY MOUNTED THEREON, SAID SLOT PROVIDING TWO SIDE MEMBERS JOINED TOGETHER ADJACENT THE TOE PORTION AND SEPARATED AT THE REAR FACE OF THE SAID FOREPART ENABLING SAID SIDE MEMBERS TO BE PRESSED INWARDLY AND TO RETURN TO THEIR ORIGINAL POSITIONS WHEN SAID INWARD PRESSURE IS REMOVED. 